Russia and the Former Soviet Republics

Russia and the Former Soviet Republics Unit SummaryPhysical
GeographyRussia is made up of huge plains and plateaus in
between small mountain ranges like the Ural Mountains. Western Russian is a
huge, flat land that is fertile. Rivers crisscross this plains area, allowing
for irrigation and transportation. In Eastern Russia, the elevation of the land
increases and there are many small mountain ranges. Central Asia can be divided
into two areas: the Caucasus region (Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan) and the
Central Asian region (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and
Turkmenistan). The countries of the Caucasus are sandwiched in between the
Caspian Sea and the Black Sea. Most of the Central Asian countries are
landlocked, which means they do not have access to the sea. The countries of
the Caucasus have a high elevation because they are located in the Caucasus
Mountains. The countries on the West side of Central Asia are flat and have a
low elevation, while the countries on the East side are high and have a lot of
mountains. Natural
ResourcesBecause Russia is so large (it is the largest
country in the world), there are very few natural resources Russia does not
have. Coal, timber, and farming are important industries. The country has
recently done a very good job of locating and selling petroleum products. The
Caucasus countries have important fishing and farming industries and abundant
(a lot) of gold, copper, oil, and coal. The central Asia countries rely on
livestock raising (growing animals to sell) and farming. Mineral resources in
the Central Asian countries include copper, gold, and lead.ClimateRussia is located far away from oceans on the west
coast and is located in the high latitudes. Because of this, most of Russia is
very cold. Most of Russia is subarctic, but there are also large sections of
humid continental and tundra. The Caucasus republics have a highland climate
and the Central Asian Republics are mostly dry steppe climates. PopulationRussia’s population is 142 million, or about half
of the United States’ population. Because of Russia’s huge size and relatively
small population, most parts of Russia are sparsely populated, although the
western cities are very densely populated. The Caucasus region has about 8
million people, while the Central Asia region has about 80 million people.
There are a large number of ethnicities in Russia, the Caucasus, and Central
Asian Republics. One of the reasons Russia is so multiethnic (has a lot of
different ethnicities) is because it is so large. In ancient times, people
passed through the Caucasus and Central Asian countries to get to China and
India to trade. Over time, a lot of different groups of people decided to live
in the area which is why there are a lot of ethnicities in that region. HistoryRussia is a very old country. It was once ruled by
the Mongol empire from the East. Russian monarchs had to pay money, or tribute
to the Mongols in order to be left alone. Because they were ruled by an Asian
empire, Russia did not have a lot to do with Western Europe for a very long
time. In the 1500s, Russia became more powerful and the Mongols became weaker
and then they sent the Mongols away. In the 1700s, one Russian emperor, or
tsar, named Peter the Great decided that Europe had a lot of good ideas in
technology and science and he tried to make Russia more like Western Europe. Russian emperors has a lot of power for four
hundred years but the regular people of the countries, called serfs (think:
peasant) lived like slaves and suffered long past the time when Western
European countries got rid of the idea of peasants. Russia did not make a lot
of the changes, inspired by the ideas of the Age of Enlightenment that Western
European countries did in the 1800s. Because of this, people in Russia started
to hate the fact that their Emperor had absolute power. It did not help that
many times the Emperors were very bad. Then World War 1 happened in 1914 and
the soldiers did not have what they needed to protect themselves and the people
at home suffered a lot. The people overthrew the Emperor in 1917 and a new
government started. The new government was unique (nothing else like it): it
was a communist government. The leaders changed the name of the country to the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (or the Soviet Union or the USSR).Other countries did not like the Soviet Union
because the leaders of that country thought the rest of the world would not be
any good until they became communist countries, too. In the 1930s, the Soviet
named Joseph Stalin, decided that the Soviet Union needed to be industrialized
like the United States and Western Europe. Although it took almost a 100 years
for the US and Europe to industrialize, he wanted to do it in 5 years. He
managed to industrialize, but a lot of people died while he was making changes.
Then in World War 2, the Germans invaded in June 1941 and the Soviet Union had
to fight for its survival. The USSR lost more people than any other country in
the war: 30 million people in the Soviet Union died because of the war. This
made the people of the Soviet Union never want to be invaded again. After the war, the Soviet Union thought the United
States was trying to take over the world and they did not like the fact that
the US was the only country to have the atomic weapon. Both sides thought the
other side meant to destroy the other and they started acting aggressively
toward each other. This time, starting in 1945, is known as the Cold War (which
was not actually a war). The Cold War ended in the late 1980s and early 1990s
when Russia got a new government based on democratic ideas. Russia had a very
hard time changing its economy from a communist, state run economy to a
capitalist economy. For a very long time, the Central Asian region was
made up of nomadic groups (people who did not have a permanent place to live)
whose job was livestock raising. The Caucasus region is the home of some of the
oldest cities in the world. For both regions, the geographic nearness of the
giant country of Russia has had a major impact on the history of the areas. In
the 1900s, The Soviet Union tool over the area and made the people work on
government run farms. This caused a lot of anger and suffering. The Caucasus
and Central Asian countries became countries when the Soviet Union ended.ReligionRussia has a large number of people who follow the
Russian Orthodox Church, which is a Christian church. When the country was the
Soviet Union, the government wanted everyone to be atheist (which means a
person who does not believe God exists). The government would harass people who
wanted to follow a religion. In Caucasus, Georgia and Armenia are mostly
Eastern Orthodox (Christian) and Azerbaijan is Muslim. All of the countries in
Central Asia are mostly Muslim or Islamic countries. EconomyRussia has a strong economy with a lot of
diversification (a lot of different types of businesses and jobs). It was hard
to change the economy after the Soviet Union fell but now most of the problems
have been dealt with. The Caucasus region’s main economic activity is
commercial farming. The Central Asian countries depend on livestock raising. Environment.The Soviet Union was not very responsible when it
came to protecting the environment. The leaders of the Soviet Union (who,
remember, controlled the Caucasus and Central Asian regions) would do just
about anything to make money, even if they might destroy the environment in the
process. Russia has a lot of air pollution coming from it factories. A lot of
toxic chemicals are dumped in rivers. Chemicals in the ground have poisoned the
soil. Radioactive (material that makes people sick because it gives off energy)
wastes and nuclear accidents have made sickness a big problem.